The Finnish participating broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), selected its entry in the contest through a national final.

Yleisradio (Yle) held the national final on 4 February 1989 at the Kultturitalo in Helsinki, hosted by Tarja Koskela.

[1] On the night of the final Saaristo performed 14th in the running order, following Austria and preceding France.

As the title suggests, "La dolce vita" was a song with strong Mediterranean influences and proved more appealing to international juries than most Finnish entries to this point.

At the close of voting it had received 76 points, placing Finland 7th of the 22 entries, the country's highest placement of the 1980s and best finish since 1975.